OECD TAX PROPOSALS THREATEN IRISH DEALS WITH MULTINATIONALS - Key features of Ireland’s role in the tax affairs of major technology companies such as Google and Microsoft are being targeted by the OECD’s base-erosion and profit-shifting (Beps) project, it has emerged.
Ideas being worked on by the Paris-based organisation could reduce the attractiveness of Ireland as a location for global tech companies, while at the same time reducing the amount of taxable profits such companies would be allowed book here, says the Irish Times. Commissionaire arrangements, where distinct legal entities promote and help organise sales that are then booked by affiliated subsidiaries in Ireland, may be designated as artificial arrangements under the new global rules the Beps project is working to put in place. In the UK and elsewhere, politicians and policymakers have been critical of the way the sales made by major technology companies in their jurisdictions are booked by subsidiaries based in Ireland, despite the fact that the companies concerned may have major sales and marketing operations in the countries where the sales are being made. The chairwoman of the public accounts committee in the UK, Margaret Hodge, has repeatedly attacked the way Google’s sales in Britain end up being taxed in Ireland, despite the existence of substantial Google operations in her jurisdiction.
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IRISH MICROBREWERY TO BECOME FIRST TO SELL CRAFT BEER IN CANS - Waterford's Metalman Brewing Company is to become the first Irish microbrewery to sell craft beer in cans. The brewery has just had a canning machine installed by American company Cask, says the Irish Independent. "We researched both bottles and cans thoroughly," Metalman co-founder and brewer Grainne Walsh said. "We felt that cans were a better choice in terms of the quality of the finished product, the lower cost of shipping, and easier handling at the brewery versus glass. It completely excludes light and oxygen, both of which can have a deleterious effect on the shelf life of a beer. "Light can react with compounds in hops, which will give what's referred to as a "skunked" flavour in a beer, but a can will eliminate that entirely. "So from a beer's point of view, it's better to be in a can than in a bottle. The cans are set to hit the shelves in February. Ms Walsh said Metalman will have to overcome a perception that canned beer is of lower quality. "There is a perception that exists that cans are for cheap nasty beer whereas bottles are a more sophisticated choice," Ms Walsh said.
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UK PUB CHAIN BUYS UP DUBLIN CITY CENTRE HOSTEL - UK pub chain JD Wetherspoon is looking to open a 100-room hotel and pub in the heart of Dublin city after it acquired Camden Hall Hostel on one of the city’s busiest night-time streets. Wetherspoon is looking for revised planning permission for the complex as part of a €4m development of the site which it says will create up to 75 jobs, writes the Irish Examiner. The dilapidated building on Camden Street houses a homeless hostel, a boxing gym and a garage all of which will remain in the building until work on the project commences. The Peter McVerry Trust announced it planned to close the hostel in 2013 months after taking over the running of it at Dublin City Council’s request, in October 2012. JD Wetherspoon chairman Tim Martin said: “We are pleased to have acquired this excellent building in the heart of Dublin. Our aim is to build a pub and hotel on the site and we believe both will be assets to the city”. The site has planning permission for a 165-room hotel which Wetherspoon will be looking to revise to accommodate its plans. The pub chain, which operates more than 900 outlets in the UK, has flagged its intent to open 30 more in the Republic in the coming years, including at the old Newport Café in the Paul Street Plaza in Cork city.
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OIL PRICE FALL THREATENS $1 TRILLION OF PROJECTS - Almost $1 trillion of spending on future oil projects is at risk after a brutal plunge in crude prices to nearly $60 a barrel, Goldman Sachs has warned. Any cancellation of these developments would deprive the world of 7.5m barrels a day of new output over the coming decade - or 8% of current global oil demand, says the Financial Times. The findings suggest the supply glut that has sent prices tumbling could soon vanish as the oil majors delay big-ticket production projects - the lifeblood of future petrol supplies, heating fuels and chemicals. Brent, the international benchmark, has fallen more than 45% since mid-June amid surging US shale production, strong supply from the Opec cartel and weak oil demand in Europe and Asia. The price plunge has shaken the energy industry, throwing some of the majors’ most ambitious plans into doubt and pummelling oil company shares. Projects in challenging frontier regions like the deep waters of the Gulf of Mexico are predicated on high oil prices and may not be economic with oil at $60 a barrel - the level Brent was trading at on Monday afternoon. Goldman has examined 400 oil and gasfields around the world, many of which are still awaiting a final investment decision. Its analysis, based on a $70 oil price, shows that fields representing 2.3m b/d of output by 2020 and awaiting a green light have now become uneconomic. That figure rises to 7.5m b/d of production by 2025. The analysis excludes US shale.
